Cleaning Old Gravestones

[bilsat]

We traced the grave of my Great,Greatgrandads grave in a disused church yard, we hisided to clean the stone so returned with water,brushes and a bottle of  Silit bang! this cleaned it up and we then contacted the makers to tell them how good it worked, they replied that under no circumstances to use this product on gravestones, no reason was given so it was a good job that we used a lot of water with it!!see the before and after pics...

[Guy Etchells]

Cleaning gravestone should be left to those who know what they are doing and understand the implications for the consequences of their actions.
Apart from potentially damaging the stone you could be prosecuted under the 1981 Act.

You may wish to remove your admission of an illegal offence.
Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981

"369.Paragraph 11 amends section 13 of the 1981 Act. It amends the law in relation to the protection of wild plants by introducing offences of recklessness and of knowingly causing or permitting an act to be carried out. It also lists certain qualifications which must be met by a person (accused of having committed an offence related to wild plants), who wishes to use the statutory defence provided under section 13(3) of the 1981 Act. The key changes effected by paragraph 11 are:

    * a new offence of recklessly carrying out acts which are prohibited by section 13(1);
    * additional protection for Schedule 8 plants. The new provision at section 13(1)(a)(ii) makes it an offence, in particular, to pick or destroy seeds or spores which are attached to such plants. The collection of seed may therefore take place only under licence and with the permission of the owner or occupier of the land on which they are growing. It should be noted that the term "wild plant" as used in the 1981 Act includes fungi and non-vascular plants (bryophytes, lichens, stoneworts and algae), hence the reference to spores as well as seeds;
    * a revision of the existing statutory defence that an act, which results in unlawful damage to wild plants, was the incidental result of a lawful operation. The changes under this sub-paragraph provide that, if the unlawful damage caused by an unlawful act is the incidental result of a lawful operation or activity, a defence can now only be relied upon where a person took reasonable precautions for the purpose of avoiding carrying out the unlawful act or that the person did not and could not reasonably have foreseen that such action would result in an offence being committed and that steps were taken to minimise the damage once it became apparent; and
    * the new offence of knowingly causing or permitting another person to carry out an act which is unlawful in relation to wild plants. This principle is already found elsewhere in the 1981 Act but has now also been inserted into section 13.
"
Cheers
Guy

[aghadowey]

I was in the grocery store a few weeks ago and overheard two women talking. 'A' mentioned that she noticed that 'B' 's family had recently erected a new family headstone and was surprised because she knew that previous wasn't that old. 'B' answered that her brother had cleaned old headstone with some sort of acid and it had to be replaced as it had been totally ruined!

[KathMc]

I hope B's brother paid for it.  Those things aren't cheap!!

[willow154]

Interesting debate.
I didn't realise it was an offence to remove the moss and lichen.
I went a couplde of years to a large churchyard, in a city in the midlands, to look for the graves of my husband's ancestors.
I managed to find three together, but they were overgrown with moss. I talked to the verger who was at the church and he was delighted I had taken the trouble to try to find the graves and went to get me a sweeping brush - he said they felt that it was important to help families locate their loved ones, and ancestors. I did ask for permission to remove the moss, and nothing was said about it being an offence.
The sweeping brush didn't really do much, so I did carefully use the edge of my shoe, and an old matalan card which I had with me.
The card was brilliant - left no mark at all - it just glided, and sliced off the moss. I would never had used any chemicals or anything, only water.
(Be careful, though - I had problems with my eyes that summer, which the doctor thought was hay fever, but it carried on - I wonder now if it was the spores from the moss - wear goggles!)
If it had looked as if it was doing any damage I would have stopped straight away.
It was wonderful to find these graves, and led me onto  further research, and as I know this particular family were very proud of their family line, etc I personally feel they would have been really pleased I found them!
I do understand that no-one wants an old churchyard ruined and made to look modern - too trim and proper, but surely there is a balance!
Sorry, if I'm opening up the argument again, but where is balance these days!
I must go back and see what the grave is like now - it still fitted in with the general feel of the graveyard.
After reading this thread now I'm not sure I would do it again, but I feel really sad that I might not be re-united in special way to those people I have very much got to know personally through hours of research and study.
Paulene
Sorry, Kath.

[woodturner]

I don't have a suggestion for old gravestones, but anyone who may need to photograph Commonwealth war graves, I find that spraying the stone with clean water usually(but not always) highlights the wording enough to allow me to photograph the inscription. Having photographed several hundred stones over the past year this does little or no damage.

[seahall]

Hi All

This link may help re: lichen etc.

http://www.thebls.org.uk/content/chlich.html

Sandy

[willow154]

Hi Sandy,
Is moss regarded in the same way - the stone I cleaned had no lichen, just moss.
In my own garden my husband cleans moss off our patio as it is slippery and it grows back quite quickly. I'm a bit confused as to whether they consider moss in the same way.
Is it best just to leave gravestones alone then if anything is on them?
Kind regards,
Paulene

[seahall]

Hi Paulene

I would image so. Sometimes I see letters of inscriptions lying on the ground.
I try not to distrub gravestones (that's why my piccies have dead flower
head's on) as I do not feel right about it.

Just my personal view.  Everyone to their own way.

Sandy